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Chapter 2: Research Methods in Psychology
Multiple Choice Questions
2.1-1. The idea that all events, physical, mental, and behavioral, are the result of, or are determined by, specific causal factors is known as
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-1
Page Ref: 21-22
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: d. determinism.
% correct 80 a= 6 b= 3 c= 10 d= 80 r = .53
2.1-2. Which of the following is most likely to be an assumption of individuals conducting psychological research?
Incorrect: On the contrary, the assumption of determinism suggests that behavior follows predictable patterns.
Correct: Lawful patterns exist in behavior and in mental processes and are discovered and revealed through research.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-2
Page Ref: 22
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: b. Behavior follows discoverable, lawful patterns.
2.1-3. Psychological theories should
Incorrect: In fact, some of the best psychology theories are some of the simplest.
Correct: Theories account for known facts; they are a set of concepts that explain something. Through the process of research, theories also suggest new ideas for relationships between causes and consequences.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-3
Page Ref: 22
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: d. generate new ideas and hypotheses.
2.1-4. If an athlete imagines having a good performance, then that athlete is more likely to be successful in an event. This statement is a description of
Incorrect: A theory generates hypotheses, not the other way around.
Correct: Hypotheses are often thought of as if-then predictions, specifying certain outcomes from specific conditions.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-4
Page Ref: 22
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: c. a hypothesis.
2.1-5. A psychologist has generated a hypothesis. Now,
Incorrect: Hypotheses have to be tested by research to see if they hold water.
Correct: Researchers use the scientific method to test whether the if-then relationship can be verified; this will answer the question of whether the suggested if-then link in fact exists in the way that the psychologist hypothesized that it would exist.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-5
Page Ref: 22
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: c. research is needed to verify the if-then link.
2.1-6. There is a joke among scientists about a researcher who tells others that he belongs to a secret scientific society, where no one but the researcher will ever know about the studies members are doing. This joke is humorous because it violates the principle of
Incorrect: Being open-minded is not the same thing as having ones research available for scrutiny by the scientific community. The best answer to this question is public verifiability.
Correct: This means that other researchers must have the opportunity to inspect, criticize, or disprove the data and the methods by which the data was collected and interpreted.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-6
Page Ref: 22
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: d. public verifiability.
2.1-7. When psychological researchers are ready to put their hypotheses to the test, they rely on
Difficulty: 1
Question ID: 2.1-7
Page Ref: 22
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: b. the scientific method.
2.1-8. An observer bias is
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-8
Page Ref: 22
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: d. an error due to personal motives and expectations.
% correct 84 a= 8 b= 4 c= 4 d= 84 r = .56
2.1-9. A researcher believes that boys are more aggressive than girls. He goes to a playground to watch children play and finds support for his viewpoint. This researchers data collection may be subject to
Correct: Expectations and beliefs can have an effect on what we see and hear. The biases of the researcher acted like filters through which some things were noticed and made salient while others were ignored and made irrelevant. In this case, any aggressive behavior by boys was much more likely to be noticed than was aggressive behavior by girls.
Incorrect: Dependent variables are the situation or circumstance under observation and measurement in an experiment.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-9
Page Ref: 22-23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: a. observer bias.
2.1-10. In an anecdote presented in the textbook, Hugo Munsterberg, a leading psychologist around the beginning of the 20th century, describes the various reported reactions to a speech he gave on peace. The reactions illustrate
Correct: Reporters saw and heard the same speech in very different ways and reported it very differently from one another. This was likely based on the preconceived ideas they had about the speaker and the subject of his speech.
Incorrect: There is nothing in this example that distinguishes between a within-subjects and between-subjects design.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-10
Page Ref: 23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: a. the potential effect of observer bias.
2.1-11. In the research study described by your authors where married couples were asked how sure they were about the future of their relationship, what was demonstrated?
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-11
Page Ref: 23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: d. A persons assessment of their partners behavior was influenced by the level of certainty they felt about their relationship.
2.1-12. A research assistant who is working in a psychologists laboratory learns the importance of keeping complete records of observations and data analyses. Such procedures are followed in order to
Correct: Conclusions must be uninfluenced by researchers emotions or biases. The best way to be objective is to use standard or uniform and consistent procedures in all phases of data collection
Incorrect: In order for research to be as pure as possible, it must reduce subjectivity and increase objectivity.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-12
Page Ref: 23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: a. increase objectivity
2.1-13. Imagine a situation in which a researcher is hired by a pharmaceutical company to test a new cancer drug. The researcher finds the drug to be effective, but other scientists cannot replicate the original findings. One possible explanation for the original results that should be considered is
Incorrect: This refers to the fact that research participants who are deceived as part of the data collection are given a full description of the true nature of the research after their participation is complete.
Correct: The first researcher may have a commitment to a particular hypothesis because of prior experiences; without realizing it, he/she may influence the results of the current research by considering certain data relevant and discounting other data.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-13
Page Ref: 23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: c. observer bias.
2.1-14. In carrying out psychological research, the basic concept underlying the use of standardization is that
Correct: All research participants should experience exactly the same experimental conditions. Standardization means asking questions of every subject in the same way and scoring all responses according to pre-established rules.
Incorrect: On the contrary, it is necessary that each participant have the same experience, except in their receipt of an independent variable.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-14
Page Ref: 23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: a. all research participants are treated uniformly.
% correct 81 a= 81 b= 0 c= 2 d= 17 r = .46
2.1-15. If a researcher defines variables or conditions in terms of the specific procedures used to determine their presence, he or she is using a(n) ________ definition.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-15
Page Ref: 23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: c. operational
% correct 81 a= 12 b= 5 c= 81 d= 2 r = .51
2.1-16. When carrying out an experiment, the factor that the researcher manipulates is known as the ________ variable; the researcher measures the ________ variable.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-16
Page Ref: 23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: c. independent; dependent
% correct 74 a= 0 b= 3 c= 74 d= 22 r = .43
2.1-17. A psychologist believes that music affects a persons mood. He has some participants listen to waltzes and others listen to military marches, and then measures each participants mood with a paper-and-pencil test. What are the independent and dependent variables?
Correct: The type of music the participants listen to is manipulated by the experimenter; this is the causal part of the experiment (the independent variable). The measured mood after listening is the effect (the dependent variable) and depends directly on the type of music played (the independent variable).
Incorrect: This is the opposite of the correct answer.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-17
Page Ref: 23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: b. The type of music is the independent variable and the participants mood is the dependent variable.
2.1-18. A store owner is trying to determine how much advertising increases her overall profit. If she conducted an experiment, amount of advertising would be the ________ variable.
Incorrect: The store owner can calculate the effect of the advertising on her profit (the dependent variable.)
Correct: The store owner creates the advertising and decides how much of it she will do (she manipulates the advertising, which is the independent variable.)
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-18
Page Ref: 23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: b. independent
2.1-19. Suppose you wanted to test the hypothesis that viewing pornographic material increases aggressive behavior. The dependent variable would be
Correct: The hypothesis is that the amount of aggressive behavior displayed will depend on the pornographic materials viewed (the cause). Aggression is the effect part of the cause-and-effect relationship.
Incorrect: This would be the manipulated variable, so that would make it an independent variable in this study.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-19
Page Ref: 23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: a. aggressive behavior.
% correct 58 a= 58 b= 3 c= 29 d= 10 r = .32
2.1-20. Which statement best captures the basic idea underlying the experimental method?
Correct: The goal of this method is to make strong causal claims about the impact of one variable on the other.
Incorrect: This is the opposite of the correct answer.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-20
Page Ref: 23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: c. Manipulate an independent variable to look for an effect on a dependent variable.
% correct 88 a= 0 b= 2 c= 88 d= 10 r = .28
2.1-21. The main reason that psychological researchers use the experimental method is to
Correct: In an experimental setting, researchers most often wish to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables. The independent variable can be manipulated in this setting to demonstrate the effect that it has on participants
Incorrect: The best type of research to examine a simple, non-causal relationship between two variables is correlational research.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-21
Page Ref: 23
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: a. make claims concerning causality.
2.1-22. The results of a research study would be confounded if
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-22
Page Ref: 25
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: d. a variable other than the independent variable has influenced a participants behavior.
% correct 77 a= 10 b= 10 c= 4 d= 77 r = .59
2.1-23. A researcher theorizes that people are likely to perspire more when telling embarrassing stories than when telling funny stories. Volunteers are asked to record a memory of an embarrassing or a funny incident and their perspiration is measured. On some days, but not others, the lab where the recordings are done is very hot. Based on this information, the researcher should be concerned most about
Correct: The heat in the laboratory is just as likely to be causing perspiration as is the memory of the embarrassing or funny story. The heat is confounding or confusing the cause-effect relationship.
Incorrect: It is necessary to come up with an operational definition of variables in question prior to conducting the research. This question examines a problem during the research.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-23
Page Ref: 25
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: c. the presence of a confounding variable.
% correct 98 a= 0 b= 0 c= 98 d= 2 r = .36
2.1-24. To measure the effects of task complexity on an individuals perception of time, a researcher has one group of participants do simple addition problems and another group solve complex mathematical formulas. Both groups are then asked to estimate the time elapsed since they began the task. Later, the researcher finds out that the participants given the complex task were in a room with higher noise levels than the other group. In this study, the noise level would be considered an example of
Incorrect: A dependent variable refers to the situation being monitored or measured in an experiment. The noise level is not of immediate interest to these experimenters.
Correct: It will be difficult to tell which variable affected the perception of time for those who did the complex task, the task itself or the noise level. The noise level is confusing or confounding measurement of the cause-and-effect relationship.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-24
Page Ref: 25
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: c. a confounding variable.
2.1-25. Imagine that you have been hired to assist in an experiment investigating the verbal abilities of boys and girls. In preparing for the experiment, you read a research study that found higher verbal abilities in girls than boys. If this information about gender leads you somehow to communicate to the girls in the experiment that they should do better than the boys, we say that the ________ effect is operating.
Correct: Expectancy effects occur when a researcher or observer subtly communicates to the participants the behavior he or she expects to find, thereby producing the desired reaction (higher verbal abilities in girls than in boys). The experimenters expectations (that girls will do better than boys) rather than the independent variable (gender) may actually have triggered the demonstration of higher ability levels in girls.
Incorrect: Double-blind research occurs when both the experiment and the participants are kept unaware as to who is in an experiment group and who is in a control group.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-25
Page Ref: 25
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: b. expectancy
2.1-26. In Robert Rosenthals study of the effects of expectations, some students were led to believe that the rats they were training were maze-bright and other students were told their rats were maze-dull, although the rats were actually all the same. What did Rosenthal find in the study?
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-26
Page Ref: 25
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: a. The rats labeled bright were found to be much better learners.
2.1-27. A placebo effect occurs when
Incorrect: This can refer to observer bias, not a placebo effect.
Correct: In this case, the participants behavior changes because they believe something has been manipulated that will change their behavior. Actually, there has been no type of experimental manipulation.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-27
Page Ref: 25
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: c. participants change their behavior because of their belief that a treatment has an effect.
% correct 84 a= 163 b= 84 c= 0 d= 0 r = .55
2.1-28. In the context of conducting psychological research, control procedures are intended to
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-28
Page Ref: 25
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: b. hold constant variables and conditions other than those related to the hypothesis.
% correct 78 a= 4 b= 78 c= 6 d= 12 r = .48
2.1-29. When neither research participants nor research assistants are aware of which participants receive which treatment, researchers have employed a
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-29
Page Ref: 25-26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: d. double-blind control technique.
% correct 98 a= 2 b= 0 c= 0 d= 98 r = .40
2.1-30. A psychologist is doing research for a pharmaceutical company. The drugs he is testing are numbered so that he does not know what they are, nor does he know which participants are receiving which drugs. Participants are also unaware of differences in treatments. The control that is being used in this study is called a
Incorrect: Correlational research is separate and different from a true experiment, so the two would not appear in the same study.
Correct: In this case, bias can be eliminated to the fullest extent possible by not allowing the experimenter or the participants to know who is receiving which treatment.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-30
Page Ref: 25-26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: c. double-blind control.
% correct 90 a= 3 b= 3 c= 90 d= 3. r = .46
2.1-31. A researcher is testing whether caffeine makes people more talkative. Some of his study participants are given regular coffee to drink and some are given warm milk. His assistant then interviews the participants and counts the number of words each speaks during the interview. What seems to be missing from the design?
Correct: A placebo control would include participants who drank decaffeinated coffee without knowledge that it had no caffeine. Measure of the number of words spoken by this group would help the researchers understand how much difference the caffeine really makes. This control provides a baseline of response with which the other groups responses can be compared.
Incorrect: The independent variable in this case is the amount of caffeine given to each participant.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-31
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: b. a placebo control
2.1-32. Research designs often include a control condition
Correct: Because control participants do not experience the experimental manipulations, they provide a baseline to assess the effects of those manipulations.
Incorrect: While attrition is a problem for some research, control groups are not put in place to account for this problem.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-32
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: b. to serve as a baseline against which the experimental effect is evaluated.
2.1-33. One study described in your book examined the effects of ginkgo biloba as an answer to ones memory problems. The study highlighted the importance of utilizing which one of the following controls?
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-33
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: c. placebo control
2.1-34. In a between-subjects design, participants in the ________ condition are NOT exposed to the experimental treatment.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-34
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: a. control
2.1-35. When planning a study, you determine that of the one hundred participants, fifty will have to be randomly assigned to the experimental condition and the other fifty to the control condition. The type of experimental design you are using is known as a ________ design.
Incorrect: In this study there is no indication that participants are being used as their own control groups, so this is not a within-subjects design.
Correct: In this type of study, different groups of participants are assigned by chance procedures (randomly assigned) to an experimental condition in which they are exposed to the experimental treatment or to a control condition in which they are not exposed to the treatment.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-35
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: d. between-subjects
2.1-36. To save time, you assign the first fifty people who sign up to participate in your study to the experimental condition and the next fifty to the control condition. The interpretations you could draw from the study will be severely limited because
Correct: Random assignment helps ensure that variables other than the independent variable are distributed evenly across groups; it helps eliminate confounding variables.
Incorrect: It is not necessarily required that there be more than one control group in a given study. This is not the main problem with this project.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-36
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: b. you failed to use random assignment to conditions.
2.1-37. Random assignment of participants to the experimental and control groups increases the likelihood that
Correct: It helps eliminate confounding variables related to individual differences among the research participants. Each group is likely to be similar because each participant has the same chance of being assigned to either group. For instance, using random assignment makes it unlikely that the groups will be divided so that one has all males and the other has all females; the groups are likely to be a mixture of males and females.
Incorrect: In fact, a lack of random assignment to groups would cause the different participant groups to be fundamentally different, and this would pose a large problem for the research.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-37
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: a. the two groups will be similar.
% correct 34 a= 34 b= 26 c= 6 d= 34 r = .34
2.1-38. Sample is to population as
Correct: Only a small part of the whole of any identified population can be brought into the laboratory or otherwise included in collection of data.
Incorrect: A sample must be representative of the population from which it is drawn, but the second half of this answer is inaccurate.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-38
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: a. part is to whole.
2.1-39. Since we normally cannot have access to the full population of interest, researchers are faced with taking a representative sample of the population. Which of the following is NOT true of a representative sample?
Incorrect: This is, in fact, the definition of a representative sample, and thus it is a true statement.
Correct: A representative sample closely matches the characteristics of the group being studied.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-39
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: c. A representative sample must include members of different racial groups, even when the target population is of one race.
2.1-40. A psychologist has collected data on the physical agility of young adults and now wishes to collect similar responses from elderly people. On the basis of sampling theory, he should attempt to recruit research participants from
Incorrect: While it may be better for the researcher to have no acquaintance with any of the research participants, there is no rule that requires this to be the case.
Correct: A representative sample matches as closely as possible the characteristics of the whole of the population being studied.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-40
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: d. a representative sample of elderly people.
2.1-41. A classmate has missed class again and is copying your notes. Unfortunately, she cant figure out which research design uses each participant as his or her own control. Which should you tell her?
Correct: This research design allows researchers to study the behavior of each participant in the study before getting the treatment and after.
Incorrect: Between-subjects designs use separate groups of participants for experimental and control groups.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-41
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: b. within-subjects
2.1-42. Imagine that you have volunteered to participate in an experiment. First, you are asked to rate how angry a person appears in a photograph. Then you are asked to think of angry thoughts and to rate the same photograph again. Because you are serving as your own control, psychologists would refer to this as a ________ design.
Correct: Each individual participants reaction before thinking angry thoughts can be compared with his/her behaviors after thinking angry thoughts. Strong conclusions can then be drawn about the effect of angry thoughts on perception of anger.
Incorrect: Because the participants are compared to themselves at different times, this is a within-subjects design.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-42
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: c. within-subjects
2.1-43. Which of the following illustrates the use of a within-subjects design?
Incorrect: In this example, separate people are compared to each other. Therefore it is a between-subjects design.
Correct: The effects of meditation on the spelling test can be calculated for each individual by comparing how each individual did prior to meditation and after meditation.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-43
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: c. Participants are given a spelling test, asked to meditate for ten minutes, and then given another spelling test.
% correct 56 a= 0 b= 23 c= 56 d= 21 r = .39
2.1-44. Which of the following is true of the within-subjects experimental design?
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-44
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: d. Each participant serves in all conditions of the experiment.
2.1-45. A teacher is trying to see whether smiling at her students will increase the number of questions they ask. In the first and third week of the study, the number of questions students ask is recorded. In the second week, the teacher smiles a lot at her students, and the number of questions is also recorded. What type of research design is being used?
Correct: Each student is used as his or her own control; each participates in the baseline phase, when questions are asked without smiling. In the test phase, the teacher smiles a lot at all the children as she asks questions. Calculation is made of each childs responses prior to the test phase and during the test phase.
Incorrect: In this example participants responses are compared to their own responses at a different time. This is a within-subjects design.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-45
Page Ref: 26
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: a. within-subjects
2.1-46. As an assignment for your Experimental Psychology class you have been asked to conduct a study that will yield a causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables. To complete this assignment, you must use the ________ method.
Correct: The experimental method calculates the cause-and-effect relationship between the independent variable (the cause) and the dependent variable (the effect).
Incorrect: In correlational research, cause-and-effect conclusions cannot be obtained.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-46
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: a. experimental
% correct 50 a= 50 b= 4 c= 19 d= 27 r = .29
2.1-47. A researcher is interested in the relationship between brain damage and the ability of humans to plan their behavior. This research is an example of a(n) ________ design.
Incorrect: In experimental research, the goal is cause-and-effect conclusions. In this example, a simple relationship between two variables is being sought. Therefore it is a correlational design.
Correct: When questions involve variables that cannot be manipulated by the experimenter, a correlational design is used. These designs help researchers determine to what extent two variables, traits, or attributes are related.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-47
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: c. correlational
2.1-48. Imagine that your instructor asks you to determine whether there is a relationship between musical ability and mathematical ability. The type of design best suited to this task would be a(n)
Incorrect: There is nothing in this study that suggests that a single incident of some unusual case is being used for extensive data gathering, so it is not a case study.
Correct: Psychologists use correlational methods to compute the correlation coefficient when they want to determine the degree to which two attributes such as this are related to one another.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-48
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: c. correlational study.
% correct 74 a= 13 b= 3 c= 74 d= 10 r = .38
2.1-49. Which correlation coefficient must be a mistake?
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-49
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: d. +1.4
2.1-50. Given the following correlation coefficients, select the weakest correlation.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-50
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: b. -0.06
% correct 56 a= 6 b= 56 c= 2 d= 37 r = .24
2.1-51. You would expect the correlation between height and weight to be
Correct: A positive correlation means that as one variable increases, the other also increases. It also means that as one variable decreases, the other decreases. In this case, we would expect that as people get taller, they also weigh more.
Incorrect: Because these variables would be expected to move in the same direction, it is a positive correlation.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-51
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: b. positive.
2.1-52. You read in a health magazine that the more people drink and smoke, the greater the number of emotional problems they have. This relationship illustrates
Correct: A positive correlation is demonstrated when whatever is being studied varies in the same direction; the variables both increase or decrease. In this case, both variables increase.
Incorrect: Because these variables would be expected to move in the same direction, it is a positive correlation.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-52
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: c. a positive correlation.
% correct 32 a= 29 b= 3 c= 32 d= 32 r = .49
2.1-53. After you present your excuse for missing class, your instructor tells you that she has found that the more classes students miss, the lower their test grades tend to be. This relationship illustrates a(n)
Incorrect: Because these variables would be expected to move in the opposite direction, it is a negative correlation.
Correct: A negative correlation is demonstrated when the sets of scores go in opposite directions. In this case, as absences increase, scores decrease.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-53
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: c. negative correlation
2.1-54. It is quite likely that the correlation between shoe size and intelligence in human adults would be
Correct: When a weak relationship exists between variables, or no relationship at all, a zero or close to zero correlation exists.
Incorrect: A lack of relationship between two variables is not impossible to determine. It would be revealed as a correlation at or near zero.
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-54
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: a. near zero.
2.1-55. A researcher computes a correlation coefficient and determines that it is zero. This finding indicates that
Difficulty: 2
Question ID: 2.1-55
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: b. there is no relationship between the variables.
2.1-56. In company A, the relationship between motivation and worker productivity is +.60, while in company B, the relationship between motivation and worker productivity is -.90. Based upon this knowledge, which of the following observations is true?
Correct: Despite indications that in company B the relationship between motivation and productivity is a negative correlation, the correlation is stronger because -.90 is closer to -1.0 than +.60 is to +1.0.
Incorrect: Because there are two different correlational magnitudes, the predictive ability would not be the same in both cases.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-56
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Applied
Answer: b. The capacity to accurately predict worker productivity from worker motivation is greater in company B.
2.1-57. One of the most important functions of correlational methods is that their use allows researchers to
Incorrect: In correlational research, there is no ability to draw conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships.
Correct: The correlation coefficient allows researchers to see how strongly one variable is related to another and whether that relationship is positive or negative. Based on this information, predictions about one variable can be made from information about the other variable. For instance, if height and weight are strongly positively correlated, researchers can predict that as height increases, weight will also increase.
Difficulty: 3
Question ID: 2.1-57
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Conceptual
Answer: d. make predictions about one variable based on information from another variable.
% correct 75 a= 13 b= 8 c= 4 d= 75 r = .26
2.1-58. In the research study described by your authors, which of the following factors was shown to be associated with an increase in sleep-related problems in children?
Difficulty: 1
Question ID: 2.1-58
Page Ref: 27
Topic: The Process of Research
Skill: Factual
Answer: a. one extra hour of nighttime media usage by children
2.1-59. A seafood distributor hires a researcher to determine whether eating oysters makes one more passionate. The researcher collects data that show that the people who eat the most oysters have the most active love lives. What can be concluded from this research?
Incorrect: This answer indicates a determined cause-and-effect relationship, which cannot happen when conducting a correlational study. One would need to conduct an experiment to draw this conclusion.
Correct: The correlation indicates only that the number of oysters consumed is greater for those who have active love lives. It does not ensure that one variable causes the other. (It does not show that eating more oysters causes a more active love life or that having a more active love life causes one to eat more oysters!). Correlation does not show cause and effect.
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